TWiV 1067: Heads or tails, you win a phage lunch

On this all-bacteriophage episode, TWiV explains the ‘vampire phage’, and and how mammalian cells internalize phage particles and utilize them to enhance cell growth and survival.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Jolene Ramsey

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Weekly Picks 1:30:41

Dickson – Biden skips climate summit (NY Times)
Rich – Lilium electric VTOL jet
Alan – The Far Land, by Brandon Presser
Jolene – Bacteriophage T4 infection watercolor painting by David Goodsell
Vincent – Using narratives and storytelling to communicate science with nonexpert audiences

Listener Picks

Darach – It depends t-shirt

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 1066: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin

In his weekly clinical update, Dr. Griffin discusses a microbiologist who was harassed during COVID pandemic sues university, use of inactivated poliovirus vaccine for poliovirus outbreak response, safety and immunogenicity of bivalent rsvpref vaccine coadministered with seasonal inactivated influenza vaccine in older adults, coffee as a dietary strategy to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection, enrollment of pediatric patients in COVID-19 interventional trials, vaccination, immunity, and the changing impact of COVID-19 on infant health, COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against post- COVID -19 condition among 589722 individuals in Sweden, repeated Omicron exposures override ancestral SARS-CoV-2 immune imprinting, protection conferred by COVID-19 vaccination, prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, or hybrid immunity against Omicron-associated severe outcomes among community-dwelling adults, the Novavax heterologous COVID booster demonstrates lower reactogenicity than mRNA vaccines, T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination are elevated in B cell deficiency and reduce risk of severe COVID-19, oral VV116 versus placebo in patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in China, and how COVID-19 convalescent plasma therapy decreases inflammatory cytokines, therapeutic heparin in non-ICU patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in the ACTIV-4a trial.

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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

TWiV 1065: Cat coronavirus gains function in Cyprus

TWiV reviews ban on gain-of-function research by the House, chronic wasting disease in Tennessee deer, nOPV2 causing paralysis in children, and an outbreak of feline infectious peritonitis in Cyprus caused by a new recombinant coronavirus.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker

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Weekly Picks 89:23

Dickson – Climate Action and How to find joy in climate action
Brianne – A Virus that Generates Electricity
Kathy – Intolerable Genius: Berkeley’s most controversial Nobel laureate
Rich – Programmed DNA Elimination (PDE): Quanta; Current Biology
Alan – KBDfans mechanical keyboard kits
Vincent – The Covid Vaccine Windfall Turns for Pfizer and Moderna

Listener Picks

Meika – Iceland Eruption or not?

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 1064: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin

In his weekly clinical update, Dr. Griffin discusses progress toward measles elimination, risk of severe coronavirus disease 2019 despite vaccination in patients requiring treatment with immune-suppressive drugs, symptoms, viral loads, and rebound among COVID-19 outpatients treated with nirmatrelvir/ritonavir compared to propensity score matched untreated individuals, late administration and corticosteroid usage explain inefficacy in COVID-19 convalescent plasma trial, higher-dose fluvoxamine and time to sustained recovery in outpatients with COVID-19, recombinant C1 inhibitor in the prevention of severe COVID-19, and Epstein-Barr virus reactivation is not causative for post-COVID-19-syndrome in individuals with asymptomatic or mild SARS-CoV-2 disease course.

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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

TWiV 1063: Childhood paralysis with Kevin Messacar

Kevin Messacar visits the Incubator to discuss his career as a pediatric infectious disease physician, and his work on enteroviruses that are associated with acute flaccid myelitis and other diseases.

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Kevin Messacar

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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 1062: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin

In his weekly clinical update, Dr. Griffin discusses coverage with selected vaccines and exemption from school vaccine requirements among children in kindergarten, seasonality of endemic COVID-19, mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccination before vs during pregnancy and omicron infection among infants, extracting symptoms from free-text responses using ChatGPT among COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong, SARS-CoV-2 virologic rebound with nirmatrelvir–ritonavir therapy, optimization of antiviral therapy in immunocompromised COVID-19 patients, a study to learn about the study medicines (nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir) in people aged 12 years or older with COVID-19 and a compromised immune system, evaluation of the safety profile and therapeutic efficacy of Remdesivir in children with SARS-CoV-2 infection, effect of neutralizing monoclonal antibody treatment on early trajectories of virologic and immunologic biomarkers in patients hospitalized with COVID-19, and SARS-CoV-2 virologic rebound with nirmatrelvir–ritonavir therapy.

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  • Coverage with selected vaccines and exemption from school vaccine requirements among (CDC) 2:54
  • Seasonality of endemic COVID-19 (Virology) 9:36
  • mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccination before vs during pregnancy and Omicron infection among infants (JAMA) 13:27
  • Extracting symptoms from responses using ChatGPT among COVID-19 cases (CMI) 16:29
  • SARS-CoV-2 virologic rebound with nirmatrelvir–ritonavir therapy (AIM) 17:52
  • Optimization of antiviral therapy in immunocompromised COVID-19 patients (ClinicalTrials)
  • A study to learn about nirmatrelvir/ritonavir in people with COVID-19 and a compromised immune system (ClinicalTrials)
  • Evaluation of the safety profile and therapeutic efficacy of remdesivir in children with SARS-CoV-2 infection (EJP) 35:38
  • Effect of neutralizing monoclonal antibody treatment on virologic and immunologic biomarkers in patients with COVID-19 (JID) 36:56
  • SARS-CoV-2 virologic rebound with nirmatrelvir–ritonavir therapy (AIM)
  • Contribute to our MicrobeTV fundraiser at PWB 37:55
  • Letters read on TWiV on TWiV 1062 38:16
  • Dr. Griffin’s COVID treatment summary (pdf)
  • Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

TWiV 1061: Seasonal COVID and a niche for cervical cancer

TWiV reveals a prediction of the expected endemic seasonality of COVID-19, based on circulation of human coronaviruses, and ecological clearance of vaccine-targeted human papillomaviruses and an increase in circulation of non-targeted virus types.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, and Kathy Spindler

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Weekly Picks 1:22:40

Dickson – 2023 expected to be hottest year on record after warmest October ever
Kathy – You can see the ISS toolbag with binoculars, Billy Collins wikipedia, What dogs think (probably)
Alan – Landmark case to get sanitation declared a civil right
Vincent – SciComm Studios

Listener Picks

Charmaine – Petition fo National Science Appreciation Day
Peter – Let’s eradicate polio this winter

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 1060: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin

In his weekly clinical update, Dr. Griffin discusses stress in America 2023, CDC expanding testing of international air traveler samples to include flu, RSV, and other respiratory viruses, missed opportunities for preventing congenital syphilis, intrinsic and effective severity of COVID-19 cases infected with the ancestral strain and omicron BA.2 variant in Hong Kong, T-cell immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 measured by an interferon-γ release assay is strongly associated with patient outcomes in vaccinated persons hospitalized with delta or omicron variants, masks during pandemics caused by respiratory pathogens, behavioral factors and SARS-CoV-2 transmission heterogeneity within a household cohort in Costa Rica, convalescent plasma for Covid-19–induced ARDS in mechanically ventilated patients, and olfactory and gustatory function 3 years after mild COVID-19.

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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

TWiV 1059: Keeping poliovirus out and Ebolavirus in

On this episode of TWiV we discuss unusual properties of monoclonal antibodies: one that that binds the receptor attachment site and blocks infection with all three poliovirus serotypes, and others that inhibit Ebolavirus spread from cell to cell.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Angela Mingarelli

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Weekly Picks 1:18:00

Dickson – Climate Science
Angela – Spider Ballooning (Wikipedia)
Kathy – Richard Harris Art Collection
Rich – “The Murderbot Diaries” by Martha Wells
Alan – Old Gods of Appalachia
Vincent – Poetry Foundation

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 1058: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin

In his weekly clinical update, Dr. Griffin discusses health worker–perceived working conditions and symptoms of poor mental health, Mpox neutralizing antibodies at 6 months from mpox infection or MVA-BN vaccination, newborn and early infant outcomes following maternal COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy, duration of SARS-CoV-2 culturable virus shedding in children, prescribing outcomes in outpatients treated with nirmatrelvir–ritonavir for COVID-19 in an interdisciplinary community clinic, Nirmatrelvir and molnupiravir and post-COVID-19 condition in older patients, optimal duration of systemic corticosteroids in COVID-19 treatment, association between Guillain-Barré syndrome and COVID-19 infection and vaccination, SARS-CoV-2 infection correlates with male benign prostatic hyperplasia deterioration, Transplanting candidates with COVID-19, and favorable experience of transplant strategy including liver grafts from COVID-19 donors.

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Download TWiV 1058 (27 MB .mp3, 38 min)

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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

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Inside a BSL-4 laboratory

TWiV visits the NEIDL